Ghosts and Shades of Hades

While we're on the subject of Flint, which I will return to any number of times, here is an interesting group of drawings he did, letting the blue paper sit in for the middle tone—effective for ghosts and other such shades of Hades.

Odysseus In Hades

Study for Susanna and the Elders

The Ghosts of Maera, Clymene and Eriphyle

Study of bathers

Art of the Matter

I wish I had come across this photo the other day when I posted the riveting image of Maruja the Strong. But I didn't, I just found it in one of my books and thought better to post it now rather than later.

It's Sir Russell working on the oil painting (probably not really, it looks plenty done from my point of view—you know how the pr people like to pose those photos. Besides, it doesn't look like there's paint on the brush OR palette). But it's informative to see the scale of the picture (for those of you interested in the art of the matter as well as the subject).

Maruja has received quite a number of hits from you all, and I can only guess why.

The Artist's Studio

The Artist's Studio, 1988, by Bruno Surdo, founder of the School of Representational Art, in Evanston, Illinois.

The Lady Kathy is a Noble Prize

Going a little further back in time to June of 1940—Smash Comics #11, one more Abdul the Arab by Bob the Powell.

Following the Dictates of His Heart

Some more Abdul. It's a clipped out story—so this might be from Smash #20, but I'm not sure.

A Man of Few Words

Just to carry on a little theme from the previous post, here is Abdul the Arab from Smash Comics #23, June of '41 by Bob Powell, hiding out as Powell Roberts. As primitive and squared off as comics were back then, these guys who emulated Eisner and Cole are fun to read.

A Horse, My Sheikdom for a Horse

Hearken back, my children, to the days of yore (1926), when it was every woman's desire to be kidnapped and carried off in the midnight hours, to the shifting sands of a desert kingdom by Rudolph Valentino, he of the twitching lips.

Maruja

Many friends of this blog are fans of the art of the study sketch, as I certainly am. One of the masters of that art was, of course. Sir William Russell Flint—also a devotee to the female figure.

This is a 1935 painting called Maruja the Strong, depicting "a semi-naked young woman demonstrating her incredible strength to a group of Spanish peasants. The fact that she can lift, outstretched from her arms, what we perceive as full jugs of water, denotes not only her strength, but also her beauty and vigor.

The title, Maruja the Strong, is a play on words, as Maruja is not only a variant of the female name Maria, but is also a slang word in Spanish for 'good wife'."

And for the fans of the art, below is the study sketch for Maruja.

And a similar sketch of 'peasant' women.

The Golden Lion

Of course, the most classic rendition of Tarzan and the Golden Lion comes from J. Allen St. John, the patron saint of Edgar Rice Burroughs imagery. Yes, Frazetta and Krenkel are shining stars, but you can see just where those two received their inspiration from.

In my book, the epitome of Tarzan, complemented by St. John's fabulous title design:

Flexing Artistic Muscle

This beautiful ink rendition by Roy Krenkel is of course based on the original painting by PJ Monahan for Tarzan and the Golden Lion, for the December 9, 1922 cover of Argosy Magazine.

It is not a swipe, but pays honor to the classic illustrative history of ERB , as well to flex Krenkel's artistic muscle and 'improve' Tarzan's visual identity.

Above, Roy Krenkel. Below, PJ Monahan—1922

You can certainly see some of the inspiration for Frazetta, as well.

Blonde Venus

Stunning and clever art direction:

1932

The "swipe file" reference:

Nostalgic Covers

Nostalgia Press was aptly named, as it certainly was in the forefront of reprinting golden age material not seen in years at that time. Yet even now I get a nostalgic feeling for the books themselves, just seeing them on my shelves, the ones for Prince Valiant, Flash Gordon, and oh yes, Terry and the Pirates.

In Delirium

You can see here that the Nostalgia Press editions of Prince Valiant had their own way of colorizing the reprints. They weren't horrible, but they weren't accurate to the original color palettes, many times using single colors to cast over large scenes.

Say as compared to the same panel, below, published in the latest Fantagraphics hard cover reprint, which is a very nice edition. The color is quite similar to the huge, full-size editions put out by Manuscript Press (which is still my favorite reprinting of Prince Valiant—but limited to only 3 volumes).

And then, compare again to the stark and dark Fantagraphics 1st-time-around softcovers from the 80s:

Companions in Adventure

I've been a fan of Hal Foster since I was eight years old. Before even being aware of comic books, I was in love with the Sunday comics with their huge broadsheet layouts. And Prince Valiant always drew me in, even when I had no idea what the story was about.

So flash forward to when I was a young man, having served in the army, but now unemployed, looking for a job. Money was incredibly scarce for a few months. Window shopping at a quaint bookstore, my eyes land on, not one, but two volumes of Prince Valiant art, newly published by Nostalgia Press. The covers were incredibly appealing and each cost $12.95. Thirteen dollars plus tax, and I happened to have fifteen dollars on me. Problem was, that 15 was supposed to keep me in food for a week until my unemployment check came in. Well, you can guess what choice I made. That was the easy choice. The hard choice was deciding on volume one or two, since I could only get a single volume. Well the choice wasn't so hard. Judging a book by its cover, I went for volume 2, Companions in Adventure, the cover art and even the name drawing me in, just as I was drawn in as an 8 year old.

The cover got torn when my (soon to be ex) roommate 'borrowed' it.

When I went back a couple of weeks later, having landed a job, to buy volume one, it was gone. I had to wait some ten years until I found it at a used book store.

With all the other great Valiant books that I now have with better production values, I hold onto these now out of pure nostalgia, and those covers, those incredible covers that never fail to draw me in.

Heroic Exploits

Here's a dynamic golden age splash page, floating around all by itself in the ol' comix chest. It's by Alden McWilliams, I believe from an Uncle Sam comic book.

It always amazes me how much stuff golden age artists were able to fit on a page, and still seem 'readable'. This page seemed too beautiful to not archive.

Sorcery

Some more eye candy, this by Clyde Caldwell, entitled Sorceress.

The Way It Was

Back when I was buying regularly from the comic book stores (many many moons ago), I was collecting cool promotional posters from the comics publishers. This is one I still have all these moons later, a pretty large poster promoting . . . The 'NAM.

And Now for Something Completely Glitzy

Bob Peak cover illustration for the Academy Players Directory of 1981, for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

A Young Woman Sleeping

You must hopefully know by now that I'm not just a fanboy for the panel arts, but a fanboy for art of the ages. As a teen student at the Art Institute of Chicago, I was enamored of Rembrandt and would visit his art daily at lunchtime. His published etchings and drawings were a constant source of inspiration. His 1654 sketch of Hendrickje Stoffels, below, never ceases to impress me for its qualities of light and mood, spontaneously accomplished with the few simple bold strokes of a brush with brown wash.

AH!

In a few days, I'll get back to posting some older old stuff, but in the meantime I promised some eyecandy, and who better to turn to for that than Adam Hughes. His work on Ghost inspired me to buy the comics. And, well, to be honest, his work was the only thing I liked about those comics. Below is my favorite cover for a trade paperback comix collection.

And his sketches are a delight.

When the comic shown below first came out in '94, I admired the cover and for whatever reason held off getting it. I went back to the store the next day to buy it, but it was sold out. I checked other stores, and they were all sold out. I put in an order for it and it was unavailable. For months I would routinely check the comic bins. Finally almost a year later I found a mint copy in the back number bins of the store where I first saw it. The interior of the book meant nothing to me, I-just-wanted-that-Adam-Hughes-cover! I'm sure it's easily available now, but I have it, and it's not for sale.

Sheesh, what we fanboys don't go through.